Winning it, not winging it: Developing a video strategy that works

Thursday 14 June 2018, Dublin

Niamh Guckian, Go Motion Academy

As consumers of media we are all watching more and more video every day. It’s well established that video is a key tool for marketing, using it strategically for a B2B audience is a very different ask to B2C. To answer all of our marketing questions and take us through what makes a winning strategy Niamh Guckian of Go Motion Academy presented to a packed room of eager marketers recently sharing her insights and expertise from a successful and varied career with the national online and broadcast media outlets and as a consultant.

Despite feeling like video has always been part of our environment, YouTube was first established in April 2005, no length of time in the history of broadcasting. Yet today 73% of US adults are on YouTube making it the biggest social network in the US. The average US business now publishes 33 new videos a month and an email with video has a 96% click through rate. So, we know video is a method of communication we should be considering, but how do we use it?

Niamh recommends marketers approach video with a formula they can stand over which runs alongside the various customer journey stages: awareness, consideration, conversion, retention and loyalty.

When creating content, she recommends marketers look at the five following areas:

who is the audience the organisation is looking to target?

where are they when you want to reach them? Are they at home, in the office or commuting?

what platform do you want to reach them on and when? Is LinkedIn most appropriate in the morning or afternoon? Are they on desktop or mobile?

what does the audience want? And can you use video to fulfil a need in this area

what does the business want to achieve?

Once a business has a clear idea of the audience they want to reach and why, content should be the focus. When it comes to creating engaging content that works for your audience it’s vital to keep their needs top of mind. Consider what others are doing in the industry internationally and how can you learn from that. All video is either disposable, with short term benefit, or evergreen, content to be used again and again.

Across video there are many different genres, some of which work very well for B2B organisations including ask me anything, explainer, vlog, video tour, demo, interview or live streaming. Engaging video fits as part of a genre and follows a story arc with a strong call to action.

For those in marketing Niamh identifies a few key takeaways to live by when it comes to video:

avoid video for the sake of it

start with the audience

the platform is key

explore and interrogate the best genre

And finally, all video should be episodic. Niamh strongly advises against one off video content and suggests if you haven’t for a piece of content you can make 10 of, you don’t have quality content that will engage the audience.

For those still feeling overwhelmed Niamh recommended viewing the first ever video uploaded to YouTube and the first ever Facebook Live on Buzzfeed, both of which demonstrate video just gets better and better.